Violin For Dummies: Book + Online Video and Audio Instruction

Contents

• Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3
• Part 1 : So You Want to Play the Violin 5
• Chapter 1 : Introducing the Violin 7 Meeting the String Family 7 Tuning up 8 Holding on 9 Bowing Out Some Sounds 9 Looking closely at the bow 9 Using both your hands 10 Making Music with or without Notation 10 Knowing the notes 11 Getting rhythm 11 Diggin
• Chapter 2 : Getting Started with the Violin 15 Examining the Violin 16 How Violins Work 19 String vibration and string length 19 Using both hands to make a sound 19 How the bow helps 20 Unpacking Your Violin and Putting It Away Safely 21 Taking the violin
• Chapter 3 : Holding Up Well 37 Understanding the Importance of a Good Violin Hold 37 When standing 38 When sitting 41 Reading from a Music Stand 42 Finding a Good Fit: Chinrests and Shoulder Rests 43 Chinrests 43 Shoulder rests 46 Fixing Common Problems w
• Part 2 : Getting Started: The Basics 51
• Chapter 4 : Taking a Bow 53 Saying Hello to the Bow 54 Treating Your Bow Well 55 Tightening and loosening the horsehair 56 Using rosin on the bow 57 Getting to Grips with Your Bow Hold 59 The famous diva method 59 The hidden treasures method 60 Conquering
• Chapter 5 : Getting the Left Hand Right 69 Shaping Up Your Arm and Fingers 69 Getting your arm in shape 70 Taking your fingers to tap dancing class 71 Framing your left hand 72 Relaxing your thumb 74 Putting Your Fingers on the Strings 74 Getting groovy f
• Chapter 6 : All Together Now 87 All Together Now: Putting Both Hands to Work 87 Getting into playing position 88 Practicing with hands together 88 Crossing Over to a Different String 91 Changing strings with the bow 91 Moving your fingers to different str
• Part 3 : Reading Music for the Violin 105
• Chapter 7 : Translating Five Lines onto Four Strings 107 Lining Up the Music 107 Setting the pitch with the clef 108 Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (and so do girls!) 110 Climbing the ledger lines 110 Naming Your Notes, String by String 111 17 basic notes
• Chapter 8 : Making Rhythm Count 125 Dissecting a Musical Note 126 Adding Up the Value of Notes 127 Whole notes 127 Half notes 128 Quarter notes 129 Eighth notes 130 Sixteenth notes 131 Triplets 131 Counting In-Between Notes 132 Dotted half notes 133 Dotte
• Chapter 9 : Measuring Up: A Guide to Meter 139 Keeping Measure of the Beats 140 Counting Beats: Time Signatures 141 Tapping into the beat 142 Counting rests 143 Emphasizing the right beat 144 Regulating Your Speed with a Metronome 145 Mechanical metronome
• Part 4 : Musicianship and Harmony 161
• Chapter 10 : Weighing In on Scales 163 Climbing Up and Down 163 Marching through the Major Scales 164 Building major scales 165 Major scales you need to know 166 A major scale 167 G major scale, upper octave 170 G major scale, two octaves 171 E major scal
• Chapter 11 : Cracking Key Signatures 187 The Keys to Reading Music 187 Getting keyed up about key signatures 187 Reading the key signatures for major keys 188 Keeping order 190 Unlocking the Music with the Right Key 190 Finding the Minor Key for Each Majo
• Chapter 12 : Making Sweet Music Together: Harmony 195 Combining Notes with Chords and Harmony 196 Playing in the Big Leagues: Major Chords 197 Finding the primary triads 197 Breaking out in chords 198 Unearthing the Minor Chords 200 Making the Most of Maj
• Part 5 : Taking It Up a Notch: Techniques and Styles 205
• Chapter 13 : Becoming Fluent in the Language of Bowing 207 Fitting Two or More Notes into One Stroke: Slurred legato 208 Changing bow direction smoothly 209 Starting to slur two notes 210 Slurring across strings 214 Playing three notes in a bow stroke 217
• Chapter 14 : Putting Your Finger on It 237 Two Notes Are Better Than One: Easy Double Stops 237 Preparing your bow for double stops 238 Going from one string to two and back again 240 Ballet dancing with your fingers on the lower string 243 Playing double
• Chapter 15 : Playing with Style 281 Fiddling Around with Country Music 281 Familiarizing yourself with fiddle music 282 Sounding like a fiddler 285 Fiddling your way to songs 288 Grooving to Jazz 290 Getting the jazz sound 290 Listening to some jazz violi
• Part 6 : Getting Into Gear, Staying In Gear 305
• Chapter 16 : Finding the Right Violin and Bow for You 307 Picking a Violin That's Right for You 308 The price is right 308 Tip-top condition 310 Old news 311 Sound advice 312 All about appearance 313 Sizing Up the Violin 314 Buying the Best Bow 315 What b
• Chapter 17 : Protecting Your Assets: Violin Care and Maintenance 327 Cleaning Up 328 Daily dusting 328 Cleaning the strings 329 Polishing the wood 330 Changing Strings 331 Taking off the old strings 332 Prepping the pegs and string 334 Putting on strings
• Part 7 : the part of Tens 353
• Chapter 18 : Ten Top Performers - and Their Recordings 355 Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840) 355 Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) 356 Jascha Heifetz (1899-1987) 357 Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997) 357 David Oistrakh (1908-1974) 358 Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) 358 Itzh
• Chapter 19 : Ten Ways to Go Beyond This Book 363 Subscribing to a Magazine 363 Attending Concerts 364 Joining a Community Orchestra 365 Going to Summer Camps 366 Playing in Small Groups 367 Participating in Festivals 368 Local music festivals (competitive
• Chapter 20 : Ten (Or So) Tips on Finding a Teacher 373 Networking 373 Calling the Local Orchestra 375 Inquiring at Music Schools 375 Checking Out Community Colleges 376 Asking at the University 377 Hearing Students Play 378 Asking at the Music Store 379 M
• Appendix Audio Tracks and Video Clips 385 What You Find on the Audio Tracks 385 Looking at What's in the Video Clips 391 Customer Care 394
• Index 395